Is who makes the list and who doesn't? K-Meleon, Flock, SeaMonkey, Amaya, Maxthon, Avante, Phaseout, Flashpeak Slim... Where's that magical line going to be drawn...

... and my biggest problem is the use of the courts to bypass law or even the sense of law, a common affliction when suddenly people want 'special treatment' to hobble someone else's success. For any law to be fair it must apply equally to all parties... in that way I think that if Microsoft is going to have this shoved down their throat, then it should be shoved down EVERY OS makers throat - but I've been saying that since back when the EU went after them for bundling media player.

I don't see *nix distros dragged into court or pissed on with sour grapes for bundling totem and firefox, nor do we see Apple being similarly pursued for bundling iTunes and Safari... To this complaint you'll get the classic "Oh but they're a monopoly so they have to be treated special"

Oh, so any group or even individual should get special treatment under the law for being successful? To hell with that kind of thinking. They break the law, fine, go after them, and go after everyone else doing it to. If they didn't break the law and they are the only ones being singled out for a behavior everyone else in the same field does, then the claims are bullshit and little more than the competition being a whiny bunch of little wussies.

Anyone who thinks that singling out any group or individual for unique and special consideration under the law should do the world a favor and go read Mr. Paine's "Common Sense", as it's obvious they have none.

... and that's coming from someone who likes Opera and uses it as his primary browser - but the way they run their company is a ******* joke.

Of course Opera's problem has little to do with the browser - the browser is fine and more capable than anything else on the market (unless you count firefox after adding 20-40 megs of extensions)... Complaints about things like the UI are nitpicking, complaints about it's "lack of features" or lack of extensions is bull since 90% of what people use extensions for in FF is BUILT IN, no, their problem is more subtle, but obvious if you know ANYTHING about business.

The problem is one of promotion, which is to say they have spent next to nothing on advertising. **** sake the non-profit mozilla foundation is able to spring for TV spots and spots in the glossies... Opera's biggest advertising expenditure (ok, their only expenditure) of the past decade was some crappy billboard on the road to Redmond... Gimme a ******* break.

The announcement clearly says the top 5 browsers, meaning IE, Firefox, Opera, Safari, Chrome in that order. Opera has a higher market share than Safari and Chrome combined in Europe.[/quote]
Which means unfair favoritism of those five, and from your answer shows you didn't understand the INTENT of the question. You might want to put some time aside to take an ethics course.

[q]Actually, this isn't about bypassing the law. It's about Microsoft breaking the law, and the law will now be enforced.

Really, and what law would that be, the law that says a company is unable to do the exact same business practices even other companies in the same field are allowed to practice? Even anti-trust laws don't go that far into noodle-doodle absurdities unless you're living in a totalitarianism.

It is. Microsoft is treated like any other monopolist.

Which is singling out a group not for breaking the law, but for being successful - MIND YOU, Microsoft has certainly broken lots of anti-monopoly and anti-trust laws in it's relationship with vendors and clients - see that whole apple/ms contracts issue - but it's complete and utter bullshit to go after them for something everyone else is allowed to do without penalty - I don't care how big or how small a company is, that's bullshit and certainly has nothing to do with anti-trust law.

No, because not all OSes are monopolists.

So the more successful you are the more restrictive things will be, great arguement for not becoming actually successful - maybe that's why Apple keeps shooting themselves in the foot every couple years? That starts to border on pinko commie rheotoric with a hint of socialism.

No. Monopolies get special treatment because all their moves have a huge impact on the market. That's the way it is across the world. Even Microsoft agrees with that.

People say **** like that, and I've always found it to be more FUD than fact - But then maybe I just remember what a complete ***** TRAIN WRECK the phone system became after the forced Ma Bell Breakup...

In any case, go after them for LEGITIMATE stuff, not this whiney little wussy cry baby sour grapes "Our browser sucks" bullshit. This "Oh, well those others aren't monopolies" BULL is some of the most annoying nonsensical CRAP this side of Obama calling credit the life blood of the economy. (I'm with

How so? The company is wildly successful, with profits more than doubling the last quarter, and constantly pulling in huge business deals. That is completely wrong. Completely and utterly wrong.[q]
OH, how's it going GoJoeGo? Sorry, bad joke from the Opera forums. Even their own staff admits they've spent little to nothing on advertising to date.

[q]Wrong. You have been misled.

Not at all, though I suspect you know little to nothing about the company itself.

Over our history, we've spent zero [on advertising], so it's a huge shift." If that still doesn't convince you that they have it out for Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT), then maybe the message on the billboard that was near the software giant's Redmond campus will: "Be a Real Internet explorer?Opera.com." (Hamlin says his one regret was that he couldn't capitalize the "e" in explorer because it was copyrighted.)

Here's a tip, don't post until you understand a subject - especially when saying things like "You've been misled" or "completely and utterly wrong" - Just how many glossy magazine spots have you seen for Opera? TV Spots? Click through ads through adbrite or adsense? Articles in magazines with their mention APART from the whiny little bitch litigation?

Now answer the same question for Firefox. 'nuff said.

HELL, they don't even get branding on the boxes of phones that SHIP with it, they barely get mention on the DS or Wii (white text on a cyan background is NOT good marketing) - anything involving them and a promotional plan has been a total joke, with the only way they get in the news being "Our browser sucks so bad we have to use the courts to promote it" - for shame.

Especially when the browser doesn't actually suck. Hell, that billboard was a laugh since it probably cost as much as a spot in a national glossy, had a horrid marketing slogan upon it that frankly, makes it look like their marketing department is run by the dirty hippies from South Park. "Oh man, wait until those little Eichmanns' get hold of this crunchy groove, it'll really show 'em"

Not that one can expect much in terms of marketing from the company that thought an avante-guard art *** makeover for Opera 9.0 featuring a homeless lady, a insulting oriental caricature, a cross dresser and a bunch of other wierdos was going to have mass appeal. All they needed was a priest with a young boy, a black man with a watermelon, mohammad, and a hasedic coveting a pile of gold to have the superfecta of offensive.